i. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to saws and, more particularly, to safety devices for saws.
ii. Description of the Related Art
Saws can often include safety devices, or saw accessories, that can protect an operator from being injured while using the saws. Table saws, for example, can include saw accessories such as a blade guard, a riving knife, and/or one or more anti-kickback pawls. A blade guard can be disposed over and/or around a saw blade to reduce the likelihood that the operator may accidentally touch the saw blade. A riving knife may be mounted to the saw in alignment with the blade such that the riving knife can be positioned within and/or engage a slot, or kerf, in a workpiece created by the blade. In such circumstances, the riving knife can prevent, or at least inhibit, portions of the workpiece from pinching onto the blade and, as a result, prevent the workpiece from lifting upwardly or kicking back toward the operator. In various embodiments, one or more anti-kickback pawls can be attached to the blade guard and/or riving knife, for example, in such a manner as to prevent, or at least inhibit, the workpiece from lifting upwardly by forcing the workpiece against a work surface of the saw.
In various embodiments, an operator may be required to change and/or adjust the saw accessories described above, thereby often exposing the operator's hands, for example, to an area proximate to the blade. In other circumstances, an operator may often position their hands proximate to the blade as they feed the workpiece through the rotating blade, for example. Previously, however, such saws have not been provided with an indicator which can easily communicate to the operator that the saw is in a powered and/or operating mode, for example, and, as a result, operators have often not been able to readily discern the operating condition of the saw. What is needed is an improvement over the foregoing.